Beyond The Surface
by Julie Ann Pope
Summary: Lieutenant Sam Bishop's 'cheeky chappie' confidence and overt flirting lands himself in his boss's bed. But, by her own admission, Kate elects to hold herself back emotionally so a 'no strings' arrangement agreed. Is Sam the person to break down her self-imposed barriers or is there someone else more qualified for the job?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

To many, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was an enigma. Certain facts were known; she was the daughter of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, mother of Gordon, a scientist at heart with a family military background. She was also a fearless leader, stoic, brave, authoritative and unafraid to kick UNIT Central Command into gear when she had to. But anything personal beyond that and you'd have trouble finding much dirt.

Her close friendship with Osgood was widely known, most were aware of their paternal connections; Tom Osgood was a scientist that had served under The Brig back in the early days of UNIT. And of course there was Sarah Jane Smith, journalist and at one time unofficially attached to UNIT through her association with both The Brigadier and the Doctor. It was said Kate kept Sarah Jane and her band of teenagers onside as they had proved to be useful extra helping hands in several alien incursions.

Only those in the know knew better and even then, what they thought they knew wasn't necessarily the case...

* * *

Osgood had become well accustomed to surreptitiously observing Kate. It was her job as the UNIT leader's right hand and second in command, as well as her best friend and confidant. Osgood may doubt her confidence in many things, but her position as Kate's friend was mostly unshakeable. It was a foreign feeling for her as friendships in her youth had never come easy to her. However, from the very first day she and Kate had met, there seemed to have been an instant, palpable kinship between the two women.

Kate had confided in Osgood her doubts and worries, particularly when she'd had to make a difficult decision in the midst of something going down, but Osgood's unwavering support and logical thinking usually helped her boss to recover her confidence enough to plough on through the situation to the bitter end. Osgood understood what a privileged position she was in and vowed to do whatever so could to support Kate, no matter how tough the situation became.

So it was a surprise and much deeper than that, a shock, for Osgood to realise that she'd not been the only one keeping Kate's confidences and from what she could tell, it had been going on for some time. As betrayed as the younger woman felt, she knew she had no right to feel the way she did. Any soul searching and analysing she ought to have done in light of this discovery, was quickly and firmly put to the back of her mind. She had no claim on her friend's personal life, of course she could and _should_ have more than one friend in this often lonely world of UNIT and aliens and near death experiences. Only, Osgood wasn't certain that Sam Bishop was _just_ a friend...

It had started to fall into place when Osgood had accidentally overheard a telephone conversation just outside her laboratory. Even though Osgood knew that Kate couldn't see her, she still attempted to conceal her embarrassed reaction to the call. The scientist felt the heat rising in her cheeks and an involuntary awkwardness came over her. It hadn't even been anything explicit, just that she had become very adept at reading between the lines and hearing the things that hadn't been said with words. It had all been in the tone; Kate's natural husky voice had become deeper and she'd let out and almost girlish giggle. And Kate never giggled.

Later, when Kate had casually mentioned that Lieutenant Sam Bishop was back in London after his latest mission abroad, Osgood took a moment to scrutinise her friend's demeanour then. However, as Kate was an outstanding bridge player, the ability to bluff and conceal her real thoughts and feelings was innate. Osgood had, on some peripheral level, suspected it for a while but hadn't any evidence to confirm her suspicions. She still hadn't really; only that Kate seemed to go incommunicado for few hours at a time whenever Sam was in town. Osgood knew that it really was none of her business who Kate chose to spend her free time with and whoever she invited into her bed, if her suspicions were correct that was. That being said, she couldn't quite understand why it seemed to bother her so much, and why she felt a need to quietly keep tabs on Kate during those missing hours and look out for her welfare. Her boss was smart, sassy, brave and old enough to look after herself and make her own decisions about her private life.

* * *

 **Eight Months Earlier**

Sam Bishop was a charismatic man, as men went. As an experienced field officer he was physically fit and had a hint of youthful exuberance which he expressed as cheeky, flirtatious behaviour. But he was also very kind, polite and respected Kate's authority as Head of UNIT. He was in his early forties, sported a goatee and had speckles of grey throughout his hair, beard and around his temples. He was also quite enigmatic, speaking openly of his book-keeper parents and distant military background, but of little else. Kate had read his personnel file; of course she had, and had discovered that he was divorced with a couple of reasonably young children. But he'd not said anything to her directly and to be quite honest she preferred it to remain unspoken.

She'd known of him for a while, the best officers in UNIT were always kept within her radar but she'd never really had much of an opportunity to meet or speak with him in person. Until an incident with a group of lobster-like aliens about eight months ago. Sam hadn't been fazed by being in the field with the boss and had teased her from the moment they had been introduced. Kate could have taken it the wrong way but somehow Sam's natural charm seemed to ensure that Kate's good humour remained intact.

Of course, she'd requested he called her Kate, as was her usual wont, but he often referred to her as Ma'am, especially as he knew it wound her up. Osgood was the only other person she tolerated that from but the younger woman seemed to want to keep things on a professional level out in the field as much as she could. Simply being 'Kate' was reserved for when they were alone or off duty, or occasionally in moments of panic. Kate wondered if it was sometimes too much of a burden for Osgood, being both friend and right hand and very occasionally she worried about the undue burden she had placed upon her friend.

Immediately after that incident, Sam had travelled back to London with the rest of the UNIT team to be debriefed and get a few days off to rest and recuperate. Kate had invited everyone out to the pub at St Katherine's Dock to say thanks after such a difficult mission.

The moderately loud white noise of people talking, struggling to be heard above everyone else and tinny music that came from an inadequate sound system made for a busy and close atmosphere. Various UNIT personnel had broken off into their usual friendship groups, mostly those who had trained together or worked closely with each other.

Kate circulated, bought everyone a drink and tried to thank as many people as she could for their recent hard work. However, she was more than aware of her status as their boss and planned to make a fairly early exit and leave them to socialise without feeling like she was watching them. Sam discreetly sidled up to her as she waited at the bar to pay the tab.

"Ma'am," he said by way of greeting.

"I thought we'd already established this? Please, call me Kate; Ma'am makes me feel old, besides we're off duty." It was bad enough being the boss most of her waking life both on and off duty; aliens rarely understood the distinction and were indiscriminate about when they chose to attack or invade. A few moments of simply being 'Kate' would make a refreshing change.

"Kate then." Sam was interrupted by the bartender handing back Kate her credit card and the receipt. "Are you leaving?"

"Yes, want to give this lot a bit of downtime without the boss hanging around. I know my place." It was said in good humour and Sam chuckled.

"I wouldn't mind spending the evening with you, in fact it would be an honour." Kate immediately heard the implication in his tone, not to mention saw the accompanying cheeky smirk.

"Now, now Lieutenant Bishop, that sounds like a proposition." Kate winked and subconsciously she moved half a step closer into his personal space.

"Well, if that's what you heard then who am I to disappoint?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and took the last step towards her, shattering any sense of appropriateness. He leaned in and whispered into her ear. "Your place or mine?" His warm breath in her ear sent shivers down her spine and she knew then that she was hooked. She lifted her head to meet his eyes, deadly serious when she spoke her next words.

"If you're sure you can handle it… yours." She suddenly stood back, rearranged her bag and pulled on her jacket, almost as though the last couple of minutes hadn't happened. "Meet you at the tube station in ten. Try not to let people see you leave." She barked the orders just as she would in the field and Sam was not ashamed to say that it did things to him that were quite inappropriate.

Kate exited the pub and made her way to the tube. Internally she was wondering what in the hell she was thinking and had a quick debate with herself whether this was a good idea or not. However, her hormones won the argument, it had been a little while and she was looking to release some pent up energy the old fashioned way.

Kate had always been honest with herself in regards to her sexuality, that she was open to all options, it just depended on the person and if they had the right chemistry. Various partners in the past had tried to pigeonhole her, told her to 'make up her mind' but Kate knew that it wasn't quite as simple as that for her.

Sam had gotten under her skin from the start, his cheeky chappie persona had a certain charm and he wasn't too hard on the eye either. But he was also smart and could think quickly in a highly pressured situation and that made a person very attractive in her mind. Intelligence, initiative and ingenuity were all pluses in her book. Belatedly she wondered if she ought to try to find a chemist but was fairly confident Sam would be well prepared for this sort of eventuality. She didn't imagine he was a man who went short of company for too long.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and thought twice about looking at it before deciding that it was probably better to just in case. It was from Osgood, letting her know that everything had been wrapped up from the incident; media outlets informed with a cover story, artifacts and records stored in the Black Archive and various reports on her desk ready to be authorised and signed off.

The younger woman had politely declined Kate's offer of a drink; there were too many people for her and she never felt entirely comfortable with the UNIT troops in a social situation. If it had have been just her lab colleagues, then she might have accepted. Kate thought to take Osgood out on her own sometime soon and thank her for her usual resourcefulness and support. Kate didn't get a chance to send a reply as Sam arrived and distracted her.

"Fancy meeting you here?" Kate shot him a sardonic look, she'd pretty much confirmed that she was going to sleep with him, he needn't keep trying so hard.

"How far?" Kate didn't need to clarify exactly what she meant.

"Four stops on the Circle Line." She nodded in agreement and headed into the tube station leaving Sam to follow in her wake.

It was a very tense journey, Sam felt both aroused and intimidated by his boss's lead and Kate still trying to work out where her sensibility had disappeared to. Finally they made it to Barbican and Kate indicated for Sam to lead from now on. She'd set aside whatever niggling voice in her head was telling her this was a bad idea and concentrated on the fact that finally, after too long, she was going to spend an evening having no strings sex.

Sam was a true gent and had offered her a drink as they settled into his flat. Kate had other ideas and pushed him against a wall and kissed him hard. Sam was a bit taken aback but couldn't say that he wasn't enjoying it. Kate immediately reached for the waistband of his trousers.

"Hang on a minute, don't you think we ought to build up to this? I thought you'd like to be romanced a bit?" Kate stopped abruptly then.

"I'm not sure what you think this is but there's certainly no romance involved. I don't do relationships Sam, you'd do well to remember that." Sam blinked, swallowed and then nodded his head. Obviously he'd struck some sort of a nerve there and he didn't want to jeopardise any potential future occurrences of this coupling so vowed to not mention it again. "I'm assuming you have some sort of protection?" Sam went to make a quip about an army lad carrying a gun for all eventualities but he could see that she had been serious so simply nodded instead.

"Yeah, upstairs."

"Then I think it's high time we moved this up there."

* * *

Osgood couldn't help but worry when she hadn't received a text back from Kate that evening. Not that her text had required one, it was just that Kate was usually pretty good acknowledging her efforts and saying goodnight. Osgood knew that she had a tendency to overthink things, so didn't bother to text again or call. The following morning saw Kate arrive at work a little later than usual, although after a large scale incident it wasn't unheard of for the UNIT team to have a few days off or a more relaxed attitude to work. Osgood didn't mention the forgotten text but was immediately alerted to something different about her friend.

The thing was, Osgood observed, it began to happen more and more. Sam wasn't around often, once a month to six weeks but it hadn't taken long for someone with a modicum of sense to work out the pattern. She had then overheard _that_ telephone call and a feeling of betrayal washed over her. However, she soon brushed it aside and concluded that she was just jealous of the fact that she didn't have a relationship of her own like that. Of the few attempts she had made, Osgood hadn't had much success over the years. She'd always felt left behind and inadequate when she saw couples getting together. Osgood often wondered what it was about her that seemingly made her unattractive and undesirable. She knew that she worked too much, was perhaps too much to understand with all of her quirky geekiness but she was kind and would make sure that any partner she had would know they were loved.

She'd spoken about it with her dad once, in very general terms. He'd told her that he believed you had to be happy within yourself, by just being yourself and that someone worthy of your love would come along eventually, you just had to be patient. Sardonically she wondered just how patient she was supposed to be? Osgood didn't want to sound possessive or anything but she was also acutely aware of the fact that she and Kate spent a fair amount of time outside of work together, pretty much to the exclusion of others, and was slightly jealous of someone else getting that sort of attention. She rationalised it when she realised it was on such an infrequent basis by the time she'd had those feelings Sam had gone back to the day job and the whole thing forgotten until the next time.

Gradually Osgood had begun to realise that she wasn't jealous of Kate but that she was jealous it was Sam the one she'd turned to romantically. Osgood couldn't believe that she'd let herself fall for her friend and boss and knew that it would never lead anywhere. She'd been quite upset with herself for feeling that way and found herself wishing that she didn't. She knew that it would only bring her pain in the end.

* * *

 **Present Day**

"So, when are you going to tell Kate that you're in love with her?" Sam had dropped it into the conversation casually one day. However when Osgood looked back at him like a deer caught in headlights, she felt herself reaching for her inhaler and Sam put a hand up to stop her. It was an emotional crutch and both of them knew it. "You don't need that. Look into my eyes and take a deep breath. Then take another." Anyone else and she would have swung for them but she knew that Sam was only trying to help. She did as he asked and took a few moments to calm herself down.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Osgood protested weakly.

"Well, judging by that reaction I'm at least half right." Sam raised his eyebrows in question, expecting Osgood to take the hint and elaborate further.

"I'm not having this conversation with you." It was the first time Sam had seen some fire behind Osgood's eyes. She was generally known to be very kind and sweet, quite geeky and liked to keep herself to herself. Some people took that for naivety and innocence but Sam understood that she was a grown woman who had hopes, dreams and fears just like everybody else, that she was quite often looked over in favour of some more overt characters in the UNIT fold.

"Why? Because you don't want to talk about it or because you don't want to to _me_ about it because I'm the one who's been sleeping with her?" Osgood flushed beetroot then, her heart sunk and she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. Deep down she'd known it was true but to have it told to her explicitly felt like a blow to the stomach. Her long-held jealousy was about to turn into anger and Sam could see it coming. He shouldn't have been surprised when she took a pathetic swing at him and ended up in a crumpled heap on the floor. She sat there sobbing into the sleeves of her jumper. "Wow, you've got it bad!" He quipped and then, for once in his life, realised how completely inappropriate that had been. "Sorry." He allowed Osgood some time to cry herself out, crouched on the floor next to her to and passed her some tissues to blow her snotty nose once she'd calmed down. She took a couple of puffs on her inhaler and Sam knew not to make a comment this time.

"You must really think I'm pathetic. You've both probably been laughing at me behind my back for months." She sounded utterly miserable and despondent and Sam knew that he had to tread carefully if this was going to go the way he'd planned it.

"I don't think you're pathetic at all. And for the record, I've never spoken to Kate about you, that's not what this is about." Osgood didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed that Kate hadn't talked about her in Sam's company.

"Then what…?" Osgood wasn't completely stupid, she knew that people spoke about her behind her back at UNIT. It came with the territory of being a private person and someone who didn't socialise in big groups much. She'd been subjected to much the same treatment at school and that feeling of being somehow inadequate had never really left her.

"I just wanted to see two people who are obviously in love with each other admit it and do something about it." Sam may be a bolshy, cheeky blokey bloke but underneath he was quite the romantic at heart. Osgood shook her head sadly.

"That's quite an insinuation there and completely untrue. Besides, what about you and Kate?"

"There is no 'me and Kate,' it's just sex. I don't know if you want to believe that or not but there's nothing emotional involved. She made that pointedly clear when we first hooked up with each other."

"I don't understand?"

"Neither did I at first but I think I do now. The arrangement suited the both of us; I'd not long been divorced, which stung me in ways I'm still trying to deal with now. And Kate, well I don't know for certain but she seemed to need an outlet to take her away from the pressures of her job, something uncomplicated and life-affirming. Sex can just be sex sometimes you know." Osgood understood the theory but personally she'd always needed to have an emotional connection with someone in order to sleep with them.

"Say I believe you, what makes you think that she could possibly be interested in me?" She was 'reliable old Osgood,' _friend_ Osgood, 'good in a crisis' Osgood; never someone to take as a lover, to desire above others.

"Oh Osgood, do you really need me to answer that for you?" It had been quite clear to Sam from fairly early on that there was something between the UNIT Leader and her Scientific Adviser. He'd seen the way that during an invasion, Kate's first thought was always about Osgood, if she was safe and if not, how she could help make her safe. Or how they'd spend hours working late together, keeping each other company without the need to say it explicitly. Their easy way with each other and almost lack of personal space also gave Sam further clues to their underlying feelings. Osgood doubted Sam's claims, bit her lip and shook her head sadly.

"It's a nice thought but you're wrong. Look at us, how do I even compare to you or anyone else for that matter? She's my best friend, although I'm now beginning to doubt even that." Sam rolled his eyes and wondered if there was a way he could actually knock their heads together and resolve this. But he knew that he was on a losing streak this time around and decided to give up.

"I know I'm right and one day Osgood I hope you'll see that too, both of you. I'll drop it for now but my door is always open if you want to resume this conversation." Osgood was in a stupor for the rest of the day, her mind unable to focus on anything other than replaying her conversation with Sam in her head over and over again.

* * *

Osgood was fairly confident that her sexual preferences lay mostly with the female of the species. However, she wouldn't be a very good scientist if she believed that it couldn't fluctuate according to certain factors and conditions. Despite her feelings for Kate, Osgood had also been confused by the signals she'd been getting from Captain Josh Carter for months and how she felt about it.

She was immediately embarrassed by the thought that someone, anyone, liked her in _that_ way. He was a sweet man, often teasing her gently but there was always affection behind it and they did seem to work well together. She _was_ fond of him so when he'd opted to sacrifice himself for the greater good during the Tengobushi incident and he'd said goodbye with a kiss, she wasn't quite sure what to think. The kiss had surprised her so much that she'd tied herself up in knots over it afterwards, but it did set off a spark within her to make Osgood wonder if they could be something more than friends.

However, the more she thought about it, the more she realised that she just didn't fancy him. On paper it made a lot of sense and she was sure they'd get along well. But when she thought about Kate there were those excited-nervous butterflies in her stomach, the thumping beat of her heart in her ears and the very stimulating sensation of her blood rushing south. However, Osgood was still convinced that Kate couldn't feel the same way about her, despite what Sam had said, and wondered if she just ought to cut her losses and try to start something with Josh.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Couple Of Months Later**

Osgood followed Kate from her office, along the rabbit warren of tunnels and corridors and eventually down into the bowels of The Tower of London to the Black Archive. There were some artifacts Kate wanted looking at, relating to an event decades ago which her father had been in charge of. It wasn't anything urgent but it had been flagged up as something her heads of department wanted more information on for the future. Osgood knew her way around the Black Archive very well so Kate thought to bring her along to help. In fact, Osgood was probably the only member of UNIT staff who could make some sort of sense out of the filing system, including the inconsistent dating protocol. Kate could, of course, have delegated the task to someone else but sometimes she did like to do things herself as she liked to keep a hand in. She felt that as UNIT leader, ultimately responsible for the collection of alien technology and evidence, she ought to know what was going on down there. They were greeted by Atkins who examined their ID and allowed them in with a polite 'Ma'am' to Kate and a 'Miss' for Osgood.

"I've got it down to around this area here," Osgood held out a map to Kate and pointed to an area at the far right of the archive. It was a fair walk to reach it but they had plenty of time to have a proper root around. "Unfortunately I couldn't quite work out which particular rack or shelf but I'm sure we'll be able to work through most of it this afternoon."

"I hope you had a decent lunch then?" Kate quipped which made Osgood grin and then nodded at her in affirmation.

"Cheese and pickle sandwiches, an apple and a penguin." The younger woman looked at Kate trying to stifle a laugh and then realised that she hadn't actually wanted the details of her lunch! "Sorry…" Osgood grew embarrassed but Kate reached out and put a reassuring hand on her forearm.

"Don't ever change Osgood." She squeezed the arm she had hold of, let go and indicated for them to keep walking through the archive. There were a few moments of silence as they walked, Kate's heels clip-clopped behind them in their usual fashion. "Ham and cheese toasted sandwich. If you were wondering." Kate said it in her usual throwaway, humorous manner.

"Your favourite." Osgood didn't actually mean to say that out loud but Kate heard it anyway. "I think?" Osgood briefly wondered if she'd come across a bit like a stalker so made it appear as though she was uncertain of her claim. However, she knew very well that it was Kate's favourite.

"No, you're absolutely right. Not very healthy but it does fill a gap in a fix. Dad didn't cook much, at all really, but he did used to make great toasted sandwiches, in the days before we had the electric ones that could do it for you." It was times like this when Sam's words came back to haunt Osgood. Who else in UNIT, in Kate's life, got to know this sort of stuff about her? If what Sam had said was true, she doubted even he knew or had even thought about it much.

They arrived at the storage area; top to bottom racks divided into squares, each labelled in some sort of code for reference purposes. Osgood scanned the racks and looked at her map, seeking and then double-checking she had the right area.

"Okay, so if we start from here…." Osgood pointed to one particular square storage space, "and work our way along here, to there and stop around here…" She pointed out another space several racks along "Then I think we should find what we're looking for." Kate shrugged off her suit jacket and laid it on top of a pile of boxes off to one side. She unbuttoned the cuffs of her long-sleeved shirt and rolled the sleeves up to her elbows.

"We should both work from different ends and meet in the middle. I'll start here." Kate had pointed to the first space Osgood had indicated.

"That's what I thought too, I'll start at the end." Osgood followed Kate's lead and rolled up the sleeves of her jumper and they both set to work. They worked virtually in silence for about twenty minutes, save for the odd huff and puff or scraping of the foot stall Kate was using to reach the high shelves. Osgood began to hear soft humming coming from where Kate was searching and strained her ears to listen. She couldn't quite pick up the song but it sounded quite nice and seemed to be in tune. She smiled to herself and continued with what she was doing. Osgood's thoughts wandered and she went through a couple of scenarios and conversation starters in her head.

Since Sam had challenged her feelings for Kate she'd allowed herself to think about it a bit more. Previously she'd always stopped herself, not really wanting to understand it out of fear. If she didn't acknowledge it then it didn't exist. But lately she'd been wondering what the harm would be if she was in love with Kate, besides the fact that the other woman didn't feel the same way about her, no matter what Sam had implied. If she fully acknowledged it then she could deal with it and move on. If she kept burying it she'd never really get over it and there would be no room in her life for someone else. She knew that she couldn't keep stringing Josh along and needed to tell him yes or no in uncertain terms. Not that he'd even asked or would be the sort of person to push but after their brief kiss in the Antarctic it was all that more obvious how he felt about her.

Osgood wondered if she ought to confess her feelings to Kate anyway, risk her wrath but get a solid rejection and some closure out of it. However, all the scenarios in her head ended with the dissolution of their friendship, if she wasn't kicked out of UNIT, and Osgood couldn't bear to think of that happening, so each time decided that it just wasn't worth the risk. Osgood nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed that the woman in question was standing by her side, arms folded over her chest and a bemused smile on her face.

"Kate!" Osgood exclaimed and put a hand up to her chest to quell her rapidly beating heart.

"You were in a little world of your own just then, where did you go?" There was nothing in Kate's tone to suggest irritation, mild amusement perhaps. Osgood blushed and tried not to look as sheepish as she felt. She couldn't exactly say that she had been imagining all sorts of ways she could pluck up the courage to tell her boss and friend that she was in love with her.

"Nowhere, I was just thinking. Sorry." Osgood shook her head and attempted to shrug it off. Kate picked up on the fact that her friend didn't seem prepared to talk about whatever was troubling her so decided to leave it for now.

"We've been going just over an hour, I thought you might appreciate a quick break? I've brought tea." Kate had made up a thermos flask knowing that they would likely be on this task for the whole afternoon.

"That sounds lovely, thank you. It's a shame, I should have thought to bring some…."

"….Hobnobs?" Kate finished for her and Osgood looked right at her then. Kate grinned and nodded her head in confirmation. "Your favourite, as I recall?" A shiver went down Osgood's spine and a contented feeling settled in her heart. Later she'd be plagued with self-doubt but right at this very moment it was proof that Kate cared and had noticed the little things about her.

* * *

Osgood had rummaged around and found some plastic sacks they could sit on, the floor was terribly dusty and she couldn't let Kate ruin her smart suit. They settled themselves on top of the sacks on the floor, Osgood cross-legged and Kate with her legs out in front of her, one ankle crossed over the other.

"Found anything interesting?" Kate wondered if Osgood had become distracted by what she'd found while looking for the information she was after.

"Nothing much; mainly logged and filed reports of previous invasions and events, some fragments from a meteorite, fabric from some alien clothing and an old data storage device." Kate reached into the middle of their makeshift picnic blanket and nabbed one of the hobnobs from the packet. She took a nibble and unapologetically spoke with her mouth full. Again, Osgood wondered who else she'd feel comfortable with being completely herself, without airs or graces?

"If you don't mind me saying so, you'd normally have been quite interested by that. Are you sure everything is alright?" Now here was her chance, one of the scenarios she'd previously worked out popped into her head and she almost went to say something. And then she looked at Kate; relaxed, friendly, open and she knew that she couldn't do that to her. Couldn't ruin the image of a good friend who stuck with her and backed her up in the course of their often dangerous day jobs.

"Yes, of course. Sorry, just a bit tired." Osgood knew that Kate knew it was a lie, but she also knew that Kate wouldn't push her and for that she was grateful. They both reached for another hobnob at the same time and Kate indicated that Osgood should go first. She chuckled good naturedly and the ever so slightly tense atmosphere dissipated somewhat. Osgood watched in horror as Kate dunked her biscuit into her cup of tea and took a bite of the soggy snack. Kate made eye contact with her friend and paused mid-chew.

"What?" She mumbled with her mouth full, again.

"You dunked?!" Kate knitted her eyebrows in confusion, finished chewing and swallowed.

"What's wrong with that?" Osgood tutted with a hint of amusement.

"Oh Kate, you really shouldn't dunk hobnobs into a cup of tea, not only do you get crumbs at the bottom but it ruins the taste of the tea." Kate chuckled, only Osgood would be upset over someone dunking a biscuit in their tea.

"I'm always just grateful for a cup, however it comes! Besides, I very rarely ever finish one, there's always something else that needs my attention." Osgood knew that very well, she often found herself clearing away several half-finished or stone cold mugs at the end of the day. Not that it was her job of course, but she did like to look out for Kate by doing the little things that might make her life easier somehow.

"If you're going to dunk, at least make it rich tea. It's scientifically proven to withstand the sogginess and not drop too many crumbs into the bottom of your cup. It's all to do with the butter/sugar/flour ratio, type and the number of air holes." It rolled off the top of Osgood's head just like most of the scientific trivia Kate's mind had been opened to.

"Why does it not surprise me you knew that?" Kate grinned at Osgood then and the younger woman couldn't help but grin back. There was a moment, loaded with words unspoken, all just in the way they were looking at each other. But then it was gone and Kate sighed out loud realising that as pleasant as this interlude was, they had a job to do. "Come on, back to work!" She said said it jovially and they both sat up. Osgood dusted the crumbs from her corduroy trousers and went back to her shelf.

* * *

A further hour and forty-five minutes later and Osgood was the first to break from the task at hand. She'd yet again wandered off into her own thoughts about Kate but this time she made sure she was still aware of her surroundings. Besides, they'd managed to end up in the same shelving unit, albeit at opposite ends. So she was hyper aware of the other woman being in close proximity. There was probably another hour or so left of searching but Osgood really needed a break and perhaps a wee. She stood up, stretched out her back and sighed heavily. Kate had been flicking through a dusty, light-faded file when she spotted the movement out of the corner of her eye and stopped reading. She looked up at Osgood, silently asking what had disturbed her.

"I need a comfort break." Osgood explained as she rubbed at the back of her neck with her hand, signs of weariness beginning to show. It was musty and close down in the archive and she'd been concentrating fairly solidly all afternoon. She could already feel the dust settling in her chest and she knew she'd have an uncomfortable night with asthma related problems.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea. Shall we say half an hour and come back to finish off?" Osgood nodded her head in agreement and they both began to walk away from their area, leaving it as it was, knowing they'd be coming back soon after their break.

Of course, this was UNIT's Black Archive and thus things were never that simple. It began when Osgood swiped her electronic pass to let them out. It double beeped and the red indicator light remained red when it should have turned green. She tried a couple more times before looking sheepishly up at Kate.

"Do you want to try?" Kate took the swipe card and tried swiping from top to bottom a few times then bottom to top. When that didn't work she tried it with the card rotated.

"That's odd, it should have let us out automatically." Kate buzzed the intercom only to be met with static but she spoke into it anyway.

"Atkins, this is Kate. Are you there?" She waited a few seconds for a response but none was forthcoming. "Atkins, it's Kate Stewart. Osgood and I are stuck in the archive, can you let us out?" Still nothing. At this point Osgood patted the pocket of her trousers to reassure herself that her inhaler was there, just in case. "That's strange. Have you got your phone on you?" Osgood shook her head negatively.

"No, I didn't think I'd need it and it was on low battery so I left it charging. What about yours?"

"I left it with my jacket, hang on and wait here." Kate began to walk back towards where they'd just come from, leaving Osgood behind at the entrance. After a few seconds Osgood began to internally panic and caught up with her boss. Kate looked at her questioningly.

"I got a bit spooked." She was mildly embarrassed at the admission but didn't know how to lie about it. Kate gave her a 'whatever will I do with you' look and grabbed hold of her hand. She laced their fingers together and continued on her journey to retrieve her suit jacket.

Needless to say that when they got to Kate's phone, there was barely any signal they could do anything with. Kate tried calling McGillop a few times but it disconnected before it could start to ring. They'd both forgotten how terrible the phone signal was down in the Black Archive and Kate made a mental note to sort it out before the next time this happened. There were usually fail-safes in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening anyway. If the swipe didn't work then they had the intercom, but that hadn't worked either. Kate was beginning to run out of ideas.

"What are we going to do now?" Osgood asked her boss and Kate wished she had an answer for her.

"I'm not really sure. I think we should go back to the entrance and wait it out. If nothing else we can keep trying the swipe and the intercom, just in case whatever glitch has befallen the system has been fixed."

* * *

Half an hour later and still nothing had worked. Both had rather given up on expending any more energy on trying to get out and had simply decided to wait it out. McGillop knew that they were both down here so there was hope in the fact that he eventually might realise that they'd been gone an awfully long time. Kate had found an old swirly desk chair and had made herself as comfortable as possible by sticking her legs up on a pile of boxes and leaning her head back against the chair. She had her arms folded loosely in her lap in a relaxed pose. Osgood sat cross-legged on the floor, with her back propped up against the wall and her hands in her lap. She was also as relaxed as she was going to be, in light of the situation.

"So, are you going to tell me what's been worrying you over the last few weeks?" Kate casually dropped into the conversation. Now was as good a time as any, they certainly weren't going anywhere any time soon so they'd have the privacy and the time to really talk. Osgood looked up at Kate from her position on the floor and she couldn't have shielded the look of panic from her face even if she'd have wanted to. She shook her head in the negative and looked down at her hands. "Forget about where we are and the day job. I'm your friend, talk to me." Osgood swallowed hard, that only made the situation worse and brought home what she had at stake if Kate were to completely reject her.

"It's nothing, honestly." Kate's eyebrows rose doubtfully and she took in Osgood's demeanour, there was definitely something amiss and a horrible thought occurred to her.

"You're not unwell are you?" It was the only explanation she could think of for such a change in Osgood's behaviour recently. Osgood felt terribly guilty at making Kate think that and realised that she wasn't going to get away with saying nothing for much longer.

"No, no, of course not!" Osgood looked at Kate and took in a deep breath; the nerves raced through her body and her heart rate sped up. This could all go horribly wrong, she thought sadly. She glanced back down at her hands and fiddled with them nervously, it was easier to do this without looking at Kate directly so she kept her eyes firmly fixed there. "I had a conversation with Sam a few weeks ago, after he had come back to London from his mission in Fiji." Osgood knew that she needn't say any more, that Kate would immediately realise the implication of Osgood speaking to Sam.

"Oh." Kate didn't know whether she was disappointed in Sam for betraying their secret affair or if she was relieved that someone knew, that _Osgood_ knew. "I…" Osgood cut her off politely.

"There's no need to explain, it's none of my business. Really, it's not." Osgood didn't want Kate to think that she was judging her.

"You're disappointed in me though aren't you?" Kate wasn't sure why that bothered her so much. Osgood had become a good friend and she'd seen her during various low and high points over the last couple of years. This wasn't any different, she was human and had certain needs and desires and she knew that Osgood would understand that. However, she couldn't help but feel that she'd let her down in some way.

"I…" Osgood stopped herself and then started again when she'd thought about what she wanted to say. She still couldn't face looking Kate in the eye though. "You know when you work late at night and you forget to eat, I remind you? Or when you need something and I've already got it ready for you? Or I remember that you enjoy a pint of real ale over a glass of wine? And that you occasionally pop over the road to that expensive patisserie and buy an almond croissant when you're having a really stressful day?" The speech hung in the air between them for a few moments, Kate not quite understanding what Osgood had meant by it and wondering if she'd finished or not. Osgood just needed to take a breath or two to calm her ever spiralling nerves. However, at the last moment she had second thoughts about revealing the depth of her feelings. "I'm just concerned for you, that's all. I don't want you to get hurt or something to go wrong and Sam end up undermining you because of your personal relationship. I care about you." Osgood's voice wavered on the the last sentence and she bit back tears of regret that she hadn't been brave enough to speak from her heart. She felt like an idiot, a lovesick idiot with a crush on her very unattainable boss. Whatever Sam had suggested, Osgood knew that he was wrong. There was no way that Kate could ever feel the same way about her. Her heart stung with the realisation and she was just glad that Kate couldn't see her watery eyes.

There was a pregnant silence as Kate absorbed what Osgood had just said. She thought back on all those occasions she'd outlined and realised just how much Osgood really cared about her and how much she'd taken it for granted. Their friendship had grown considerably over the last few years and appropriately she began to recall a conversation that, ironically, she'd had with Sam herself, one day during their 'pillow talk...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three - Flashback**

Kate never stayed too long with Sam after they'd slept together, she neither wanted to nor felt it was a requirement of their arrangement. However, they always did need at least a little time to recover from their activities. Sam was propped up on his side with one elbow digging into the pillow, his naked body turned towards Kate's. He casually played with Kate's hair, twining a strand around his finger, letting go and then curling it again. Kate lay next to him, flat on her back with the thin bedsheet covering her modesty. She didn't seem too bothered by the casual caress, at least for the moment.

"So, why does the lovely Ms Stewart, Head of Scientific Research at UNIT, not 'do relationships' when she's _that_ good at sex? That's an enigma I'd like to crack." Sam kept the tone light to prise the information he wanted from her gently.

"Flattery will get you absolutely nowhere Lieutenant Bishop!" Kate was no stranger to lovers attempting to woo her with pillow talk so her emotional barriers were already fully locked in place.

"And neither will changing the subject. Seriously, what's the deal? What were you like before you were the big bad boss of UNIT, before aliens and pressures of having to routinely save the world? You've got a son, right? He must have come from somewhere?" Sam knew that he was pushing it, that he'd not appreciate the intrusion if the shoe was on the other foot but he was on a mission to unsettle Kate from her safe, protective shell.

"And that's where I think you're treading a mightily thin line Sam!" Of course, he wouldn't take the hint and he swooped in for the the point he was actually trying to make.

"Okay, what about friends then? Do you have any friends you can talk to? Have a laugh with and gossip about boys? You and Osgood seem to spend an awful lot of time together, anything I should be worried about?" He waggled his eyebrows with the insinuation, hoping to add a little humour to his serious question. Kate was immediately on her guard, always very protective and defensive of her friend.

"What are you implying?" Kate couldn't quite work out where Sam was going with this odd, and frankly one sided, conversation.

"Nothing! I just meant that you appear to spend most of your free time together." It was true, Kate and Osgood had built up a solid friendship both in work and occasionally outside of official UNIT duties. She supposed it was because they both felt like outsiders, Osgood because of her lack of sociability and self-esteem and Kate through default of being the boss and her father's daughter. They also had the fact that they had both chosen to follow in their fathers' footsteps and join UNIT. Being a child of a UNIT officer had it's own set of problems as well as advantages. She'd felt that she was able to confide in Osgood about her feelings around her responsibilities and she didn't feel like the other woman would judge her or lose respect for her because of it. They sort of only had each other and a good friendship had grown from it.

"Yes we're friends, that's what friends do." Kate hadn't really thought about how much time outside of the day job she and Osgood spent together because, in all honesty, there wasn't much downtime in the first place.

"You're also her boss." Sam pointed it out because an emotional relationship with a friend was still an emotional relationship.

"Yours too, or had you forgotten?" Kate's stern, authoritative voice still had the ability to reduce Sam to a hormonal teenager.

"Not at all ma'am!" Kate swatted his bare shoulder, he knew just how much she hated being called ma'am, especially in bed! "But seriously, are you sure there's not more there than just friendship? You do seem to understand what each other's thinking without speaking, almost to the point of finishing each other's sentences! I bet you know each other's birthdays, what your favourite foods are and have seen each other's houses? And what's the hand holding all about?" He'd noticed after the latest incident with the Tengobushi that Kate had grabbed Osgood's hand on more than one occasion as they'd run from danger, or there had been moments when Kate or Osgood had placed a supportive hand on a shoulder or arm in a moment of panic. Kate thought that she'd entered the twilight zone and considered this was one of the most bizarre conversations she'd ever had.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Kate hastily dismissed the notion, began to make a move to leave and that had been the end of the conversation.

* * *

 **Present Day**

The trouble was, that Kate hadn't quite been able to let go of Sam's observations or insinuations and it had rattled around inside of her head for a couple of days afterwards. She caught herself examining her interactions with Osgood from then on, going back over bits of conversations or actions that might be deemed inappropriate or could have been taken the wrong way. She'd spent one particular afternoon surreptitiously watching Osgood over the top of her glasses. The way the younger woman was focused and concentrated on the task at hand suddenly became mesmerising and Kate almost forgot that she was being inconspicuous.

Kate even found herself watching Osgood talking to her colleagues, wondering if she had any close friendships outside of the one she shared with her? She remembered there had been the friend from university who had sadly died in her flat during the Tengobushi incident. She knew that there were parts of Osgood's life that she wasn't privy to and was miffed to find that she was mildly jealous. Of course, Osgood was a grown woman and could choose to be friends with whomever she pleased but it did wrangle slightly anyway.

And then of course there had been the kiss Osgood had shared with Captain Carter. It hadn't taken a genius to work out what had happened between them, especially given the ensuing awkwardness. Kate had been surprised by her own reaction and gradually it had started to dawn on her that perhaps there was something in Sam's words, but she was buggered if she was going to think about it too deeply. That was an added complication she could well do without.

However, with Osgood's recent demeanour and now this speech about their friendship, another niggle began to grow in Kate's mind during the silence. Osgood had almost sounded like…. No, that wasn't right, surely not? Kate lifted her feet off the boxes she'd been resting them on, hoisted herself off her chair and went to sit down right beside her friend. Osgood had watched her movement but was still startled when she'd ended up shoulder to shoulder with Kate on the floor. Kate lifted an arm from Osgood's lap and held her hand. She knocked their shoulders together again and Osgood looked up at her then. Kate lifted her free hand to the younger woman's face and brushed an emerging tear from her eye with the pad of her thumb.

"I care about you too, which is why I know something's wrong." She had to get to the bottom of this before the opportunity was lost.

"You'll think I'm an idiot." Osgood knew that she _felt_ like an idiot.

"Hardly! You're the smartest person I know, with more qualifications that I could even contemplate. You may not be a field operative but you've been the key player in several large-scale events, sometimes even resolving the situation almost single-handedly. I actually admire you more than you'll ever know; so no, whatever you tell me I'm not going to think you're an idiot." Osgood's self-confidence took a slight upward turn and she shifted in their sideways embrace. They were still perilously close and before either of them seemed to understand what they were doing they both gravitated towards each other.

Surprisingly it was Kate who made the first move, belatedly realising that this had been her intention all along when she'd moved to sit next to the younger woman. She'd pressed her lips gently against Osgood's and felt the other woman's instinctive reaction to move her own lips against Kate's. Slowly, gently they pressed and kissed, mouths moving in rhythm with the beating of their hearts. Redundant hands suddenly had a desire to be everywhere all at once; Kate threaded her fingers through the long hair at the back of Osgood's neck and held the weight of her head against the onslaught of her kisses, while her other hand let go of the one in her lap and slipped it around Osgood's waist. Osgood could just about reach out to grasp Kate's hips and anchor herself against the fire of her raging hormones.

Kissing Kate was so much better than she'd imagined, and she'd imagined it more times than she could remember. Kate was persistent but not demanding, soft and gentle in all the right places but passionate enough so that her intentions couldn't be mistaken. Osgood anxiously wondered if she was giving her enough back but needn't have worried when she felt the tip of a tongue brush her lips. Just as it was about to get interesting the door by the side of them made a loud double beeping sound before swooshing open in a rush of air. The two women broke apart instantly and scrambled to their feet.

"Let's get out of here." Kate suggested, their kiss momentarily forgotten in favour of freedom from the Black Archive. They walked out of the open door and spotted Atkins at the desk next to it. His head was bowed and he was snoring heavily into his shoulder. Kate shouted at him to wake him up.

"Wake up Atkins!" It startled him but he didn't wake up. "That's odd, something's not right here Osgood." Kate's voice held an edge of concern, her extensive experience at UNIT serving her well.

"I agree, do you think he's been drugged?" Osgood was equally adept at picking up on situations which felt off, especially as her thoughts were echoed by Kate's.

"That's certainly my first thought." Kate swung the telephone on the desk to face her, picked up the receiver and dialled an internal extension number. "Malcolm, we have a situation down in the Black Archive, Atkins has been…. _taken ill_. Can you send a replacement and a first aider?" Malcolm answered her in the affirmative over the phone and Kate put the receiver down. "Who knew that we were both going to be in there this afternoon?"

"I only told McGillop."

"I don't recall telling anyone. Someone obviously wanted us out of the way, but why? Can you go back and see if there's anything amiss in your lab? I'll search my office once Atkins has been taken care of."

"Yes ma'am." Osgood automatically answered, just as she would with any order Kate had given and turned to leave. Kate caught her arm before she could walk away completely. "We'll talk about this later, I promise." Osgood tentatively made eye contact with Kate and nodded her head silently. She didn't think she could cope with stringing a coherent sentence together at that point in time anyway.

Kate paced back and forth as she waited for reinforcements to arrive. Her mind was buzzing wildly with what had just transpired between her and Osgood. Her emotions were all over the place too, some magical, missing feeling was brought to life inside of her and settled in her heart. However, her head was desperately trying to pull her thoughts in another direction, make her realise how much of a huge mistake she'd just made and pondered the consequences of her actions. The pacing and clip-clopping of her heels on the stone floor didn't help calm her nerves so she was relieved when her officers arrived.

* * *

Osgood all but ran to the relative safety of her laboratory, exchanging only courtesy greetings with colleagues she just happened to bump into along the way. She closed the door behind her and slumped back against it, nearly bumping her head as she did so. Her chest heaved and her heart raced and she scrabbled around in her pocket for her inhaler. First she took one puff, then two and then a third as she forced herself to keep from going into full blown attack mode. She concentrated on turning her short, sharp wheezy breaths into longer, deeper more sustaining ones and very gradually she began to feel less panicked. Her mind raced with what had just happened in the Black Archive between her and Kate. She couldn't quite understand it, her memory was a bit foggy with all the emotions swirling around inside of her but she could have sworn Kate had kissed her first? But that must be her mind playing tricks on her and now she'd put her boss in a very awkward position. Not to mention she was more worried than ever about the potential state of their friendship. Osgood shook her head free from her maudlin thoughts and picked herself up. She had job to do, to search her lab and work out if anything had been taken, disturbed or changed since she'd been down in the Black Archive with Kate.

Needless to say that her search had proved fruitless and she was none the wiser about what on earth that fiasco had all been about. Osgood remained ensconced in the safety of her lab for a while, the rest of the search in the Black Archive forgotten about until another time. She'd have to go back and tidy up at some point, collect the thermos and remaining biscuits (after all, she couldn't let a perfectly good packet of hobnobs go to waste). But for now her mind was on other things and as hard as she tried, she couldn't think about anything else.

She eventually popped out to speak to McGillop, subtly questioning him in case he'd been the one conspiring against her and Kate. She didn't like to think ill of people, but it was strange that he'd been the only person to know. It was only then did the full impact of what had happened sink in and Osgood's embarrassment far outweighed her sense of duty.

* * *

Kate was having the same trouble, once she'd returned to her office and seen that Atkins was going to be alright. She scanned the room before rummaging around to see if everything was where she'd last remembered it to be. As far as she could tell all was fine. It was a complete mystery but one she was keen to solve in case someone had been exceptionally clever and was about to attack from the inside. All the while she was thinking about Osgood and wanted to check that her friend was alright. Not only that but she was torn between wanting to apologise and kissing her again. That thought struck a low blow and Kate had to perch herself atop her desk for a few moments in order to steady herself. The strength of her feelings came as a surprise. She'd just about worked out on some peripheral level that she had those sorts of feelings for Osgood at all, but she hadn't quite realised just how hard she had fallen.

"Can I come in?" A loud knock at the door and deep male voice disturbed her thoughts and Kate looked up to see Sam standing there. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" Not that Kate kept firm tabs on him, but last she'd heard he was away on a scouting missing in Bermuda. She hadn't bothered to hide the irritation from her voice.

"Is that the welcome I get? I thought you'd be pleased to see me?" It was just like him to be completely unobservant of her demeanour and go straight into cheeky chappie mode.

"I'm not in the mood Sam, it's been a difficult day." He took proper note of her weariness then, the look of utter despondency on her face and the tiredness in her eyes. He swallowed hard and realised that something had gone wrong.

"Oh? I'd have thought you'd be on cloud nine by now?" He actually counted down from three in his head and saw the look of realisation dawn on her face.

"No! Please tell me that this wasn't anything to do with you?" Sam held his hands up in a gesture of surrender and gave her a sheepish shrug. "Oh Sam, what have you done?!" Kate's eyes flashed with anger and he backed himself up against the door in case she wanted to take a swipe at him, just as Osgood had done a few weeks before. "You drugged Atkins! And locked us in the Black Archive!" Her wrath was palpable but fortunately she hadn't actually made any movement in his direction. "What on earth were you thinking?!"

"I was trying to help!"

"You know what? You're nothing but a little boy who's never grown up. Can't you see that it's people's lives and emotions you're playing with here?" Sam didn't need to be close to Kate to feel the heat of the anger rolling off her in waves. Suddenly what had seemed like a good idea at the time felt like one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just thought… if I gave you both a little push… you'd somehow realise how you felt about each other."

"A push by all means but going so far as to drug one of my staff? Who else was in on this? You couldn't have worked alone?" Kate felt quite embarrassed by the realisation that other people must have known about his plans and the reasons for them.

"Only McGillop." Sam had had to enlist his help to give Atkins the cup of tea which had sent him to sleep and be there when Kate called for backup upon discovering him sleeping on the job. He hadn't wanted to invoke mass panic so kept this little incident under the radar.

"Oh great!" Kate exclaimed sarcastically.

"He'd already worked out how you felt about Osgood, or how she felt about you, or both, it doesn't matter now."

"It certainly does. Look, I need to find Osgood, tell her exactly what happened and who was behind it. I don't want her worrying unnecessarily. I'll deal with you later." Sam side-stepped the door so she could get out of her office. "Oh and Sam? It's over between us, in case you were in any doubt." He wasn't but appreciated the closure nonetheless. Hopefully they'd get to talk about it in a more rational way, once Kate had recovered from this incident but he was under no misunderstanding of the terms of their arrangement. He was certain she'd thank him for this later, once she'd calmed down and had time to absorb it all.

Kate went off down the rabbit-warren of corridors to the laboratories where Osgood generally called home. She entered and sought out the younger woman with her eyes to begin with but instead spotted McGillop beavering away over a tablet computer off to one side of the room. She went to walk away to somewhere out of sight but he looked up and saw her anyway. She flushed deeply in embarrassment, knowing that he knew exactly what had just happened.

"I take it you're looking for Osgood?" Even if this hadn't have happened, it wasn't unheard of for Kate to come searching for her right hand woman here. She nodded and walked closer. "She's gone home." Kate raised her eyebrows then swore under her breath. "Look, Kate…" McGillop was shot a warning look and he knew that he was on very thin ice. "…she knows, about Sam's plan. I told her when she began to suspect I was responsible for getting you both locked in the Archive." Kate didn't have a hard surface to bash her head against, so instead counted to three under her breath and decided to take disciplinary action with McGillop another time.

"How did she take it? Or is that a silly question?"

"She's embarrassed certainly. But I think she's more worried about the state of your friendship." That wasn't surprising and Kate knew it was even more important that they talked. But she didn't want to go chasing after her in this state either and realised that it would have to wait until the next day.

* * *

The trouble was, Osgood didn't want to be found and make it very difficult for Kate to catch up with her. The younger woman had returned to the Black Archive to tidy away their things and to search through the rest of the shelves for the information Kate had originally been after. It hadn't taken Osgood long to have some success and she found two whole boxes crammed with artifacts hermetically sealed, copious handwritten notes and two large files on the incident. Osgood was pleased that the whole debacle hadn't been a complete waste of time and that she had some good news for Kate. It was just a question of plucking up enough courage to speak to her in the first instance. Osgood had taken the files and notes and left the objects behind, she'd book them out of the system once back at her desk but that would probably require her inputting them properly first, hence the reason for the extended search! She did wonder what on earth they'd do without her sometimes! Just as she was on the approach to the exit, the door swooshed open and Kate strode through it purposefully.

"Kate!" Osgood exclaimed, she was so surprised that she nearly dropped the stack of files.

"Just the person I was coming to see." Kate had managed to track the younger woman down with the assistance of McGillop who was still feeling guilty over yesterday's incident so had been more than willing to help.

"I… um… I found what you were looking for, in the filing range." Osgood meekly held up the files she'd been holding to emphasise her words and Kate smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, it's very much appreciated. Can we talk for a moment?" Osgood swallowed nervously and nodded and then Kate helped her to offload the files onto the floor. "Here we are again." Kate observed as she took in their surroundings and thought back to the day before. "I wanted to let you know that both Sam and McGillop will be reprimanded for what they did yesterday. Although I believe their actions were with the best of intentions, it was ill-conceived and poorly executed." Osgood nodded in agreement. "I… I'd like to explain, if I may?" Osgood didn't really think that was necessary, it was her fault after all but she nodded her assent anyway. "Sam and I… It was casual and convenient, for both of us. I'm not ashamed of it, just how you found out and that I kept it from you. Sometimes sex is just sex and with the pressures of this job and just what he could offer me at the time, I took advantage of it. I hope you can understand that?" Osgood shrugged her shoulders, still feeling inadequate in comparison.

"As I said, it's really none of my business." Osgood hadn't even bothered trying to hide the despondent tone in her voice.

"Oh but it is!" Then Kate studied her for a few moments "You don't know do you? Even after yesterday, you still doubt….." Kate didn't have any words left in her then and reached for her friend. She caught her eye before leaning forward and kissing her once again. Osgood took a few moments to respond but felt herself doing so anyway. Kate finished it all too soon. "I think I've fallen for you. I didn't mean to, but slowly and surely you've found your way into my heart and I don't want to lose you." Osgood let out a wheeze and Kate automatically responded "Inhaler!" But the younger woman shook her head, remembering what Sam had said all those weeks ago. She took deep, calming breaths, focusing on Kate's concerned face and returned to normal in a short time.

"I thought…. I thought that you'd be angry. I couldn't remember if I'd kissed you first, although I did think it had been you. I felt embarrassed and thought that it would be too awkward for us to remain friends. When I first worked out that you and Sam…. Well, you know…. I was jealous but couldn't quite understand why. Eventually it dawned on me that I was jealous of him because he was with you. I felt quite pathetic then." Osgood looked down but Kate gently lifted her chin with the crook of a finger so she could look her in the eye.

"Oh sweetheart, you could never be pathetic. If you were than I would be too as I felt the same way when I found out that Josh had kissed you." Osgood chuckled lightly and shook her head.

"I felt so awkward about that, it was obvious everyone else did as well. It wasn't anything though, just so you know. I don't feel that way about Josh, he's a sweet guy but not someone I could fall in love with."

"And the same with Sam. It was fun but casual, there was no emotional connection between us. I hope you can understand that?"

"I think I'm beginning to." Kate pulled Osgood towards her by the hips and nuzzled her nose against the younger woman's.

"So, shall we give it a go then? You and me… _us_?" Osgood's heart thudded in her chest, an overwhelming feeling of emotion rushed over her and she nearly had to close her eyes against the tidal wave.

"Yes, I think I'd like that very much." Kate closed the remaining gap between them and brushed her lips against Osgood's once again. Osgood immediately responded, with far more confidence than she'd done so before. They took their time, tongues eventually meeting in each other's mouths, kisses became more urgent and then wound down gradually. But this time they weren't disturbed, this time they'd not been set up and this time was only the beginning of a new adventure.


End file.
